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Calul Journal •

Poetry - "The Last War"

Hear, O Israel,
your silence is deafening.
I do not know
who last spoke, if it was you or me or my mother,
after we arose and pried apart
our curtains, revealing a dark sky
and a parking lot, and remembered
that there are too many wars
and too few children
who live without them.
Dawn crawled into our beds.
In my pajamas, I read the names aloud
that face the ground.
While you were weeping we stayed awake:
Shhh, we said. Shh.
We said that your children
are standing at the gates of redemption.
We said you will welcome them soon.
We said birthing pangs are holy, too.
We meant it
as much as we could.
Photo by Brandon Nickerson on Pexels
Poets.org •

Poetry - "Shana Rishona"

Brooklyn is still so new to me:
in the morning the children walk
themselves to school, they sit
under trees. During lunch
I watch a neighbor hoist groceries
up six flights of steps, and in our
apartment I watch the bridge
beyond, tucked between buildings—
I’m unsure where it goes. There are
so many worlds out there, and I
love them all.
II.
For you, I would do anything
and I guess that means breaking apples into quarters
and boiling them for two hours.
At the right t...
The Lehrhaus •

Poetry - "These Days"

Ten Days of Awe and I am lying on the carpet, looking out 
the window, at a world I do not know yet. 
How many blessings have slipped through my skirt and scuttled 
to the floor, our marriage just a few weeks old, our chuppah 
flowers preserved. I sleep, and this is standard. 
I eat, and this is standard. I pray, and this is standard—but rare 
that I feel Presence like this, like I’m standing on the edge of a needle 
about to thread. Soon it is the very eve 
of Yom Kippur and my new...
Academy of American Poets •

Poetry - "Moral Compass"

i. North


The trees are orange and my lungs fill

with the amber air of your childhood:

I can feel those

fiery tingles

of sticks, stones,

of Nature coronating boyishness—

of you pressing

your toes against boulders and

declaring yourself King

of each leafy hue.


There is a two-lane street wedged

between those forests now,

and we can hear the police sirens wailing

in Hazleton—

your voice

strains and claims “the neighborhood wasn’t always this rough”
Newfound •

Fiction -"Pinprick"

Corina shivered beneath the layers—a sheet, a quilt, and a calico blanket her great-grandmother had stitched. Perspiration gathered on her forehead, beads of ice. It was the middle of summer, but her sweat was unnatural.

She hated the fever, the way it melted minutes into hours, muscle convulsions and chattering teeth. But the bubbling pit of nausea at her core was unrelated to her illness; it was the guilt of forcing her daughter into the role of caretaker. Lydia had enough to worry about as m
Sky Island Journal •

Fiction — "Tank"

July is monsoon season in Luna County, New Mexico—Sky Island Journal ‘s birthplace and spiritual home. This time of year, the mountains and deserts thirst for rain. Their inhabitants grow lean in the sweltering heat of the day and drink the cool night air with relish. Soon, lightning will crack the sky like an eggshell. Succulents will gorge and swell. Alluvial fans will flutter alight. Arroyos and draws will become rivers—veins of water, pulsing at treacherous speeds. There will be creation, de

Featured Articles

The Sandspur •

Local business woman runs for Commissioner Seat 3

A profile on a candidate does not indicate The Sandspur or Rollins College’s endorsement.

Small business owner Anjali Vaya is running for Winter Park commissioner Seat Three against attorney Kris Cruzada.

Vaya grew up in Zambia and immigrated to the US in 1990 to pursue her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in healthcare administration at the University of Michigan. In 2000, she founded the world’s first e-commerce website for furniture sales and entered the business world.

“This is what I’m ab
The Sandspur •

Rollins alumnus runs for city commission Seat 4

The following article is a profile on Elijah Noel, candidate for Winter Park commissioner Seat Four. A profile on a candidate does not indicate The Sandspur’s or Rollins College’s endorsement.

At 25 years old, Rollins alumnus Elijah Noel (‘20) is running for Winter Park commissioner Seat Four against incumbent Todd Weaver.

Born in Orlando, Noel graduated from The Geneva School in Winter Park before attending Rollins between 2015 and 2020. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in international
The Sandspur •

Commissioner incumbent to focus on development, sustainability

A profile on a candidate does not indicate The Sandspur’s or Rollins College’s endorsement.

Incumbent Todd Weaver is running for Winter Park commissioner Seat Four against Elijah Noel (‘20). Weaver was elected Winter Park commissioner in 2019 and is approaching the end of his four-year term.

A Winter Park resident of 25 years, Weaver’s background is in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Weaver founded two companies in Winter Park: TruGrit Traction Inc (an international manufacturing company
Alliance Physical Therapy Partners •

What’s the difference between arthritis and arthrosis?

About 20% of U.S. adults deal with chronic pain on a daily basis. A major source of that chronic pain is found in the joints. Chronic joint pain is often diagnosed as arthritis, or a general term for inflammation of the joints and surrounding tissue. There are over 100 types of arthritis, with osteoarthritis being the most common type. Symptoms that could indicate arthritis can include:

Doctors can diagnose patients with a specific type of arthritis through a series of blood tests that check fo
Work-Fit •

How to Calculate (and Lower) Your Company's TRIR

Workplace injuries can drastically drain employers of valuable funds. In 2020 alone, businesses across the U.S. spent about $164 billion in work injury costs. And the costs don’t stop there; about 2.3 million people worldwide have work-related accidents every year.


Most workplace accidents and injuries are completely preventable. A crucial step of prevention is to report when and how these injuries occurred. Doing so can help employers recognize patterns and develop a plan of prevention — wh
Alliance Physical Therapy Partners •

The Do’s and Don'ts of Frozen Shoulder Syndrome

Frozen shoulder syndrome, also called adhesive capsulitis, affects up to 5% of people around the world. This painful condition can cause shoulder immobility for up to two years.

While the causes of frozen shoulder syndrome are largely unknown, you may be more likely to develop it if your shoulder has been in the same position for a long period of time. For example, keeping your shoulder still after a surgery or fracture can increase your risk of developing frozen shoulder syndrome. Women are al
ProVise Management Group •

What a personal cash flow analysis is and why financial planners use it

A personal cash flow analysis measures the money you earn and the money you spend over a period of time. Together, these numbers can help you calculate whether you have a positive or negative net cash flow. A positive net cash flow means that you earned more than you spent and that you have some money left over. Meanwhile, a negative net cash flow shows that you spent more money than you made.

Your cash inflow, or money you are bringing in, can come from income and sales. More specifically, it
ProVise •

Benefits of ESG investing: How it can benefit you and the world as a whole

Many investors are expanding their portfolios to include ESG companies, which prioritize environmental, social and governance sustainability.

ESG investing means investing in companies that consider their overall impact on their environment, community and employees. Businesses that focus on combating climate change, deforestation and inequality are just some examples of ESG-centered companies.
Work-Fit •

Doing Food Production Jobs Can Lead to These 3 Injuries

Some jobs require incredible endurance, strength and coordination. Industrial athletes give their all to physically demanding jobs, and food production and processing workers are no different. Without their hard work, our access to food would be severely restricted.

Even with the high importance of food production jobs, food production workers are at risk of frequent injuries. The food services industry is one of the top five industries with the most recorded illnesses and injuries. With the ri
Background Experts •

Employment Credit Checks in Florida

Pre-employment credit checks can help employers verify a potential employee’s identity and determine if they are reliable enough for their workplace. Overdue payments, outstanding loans and a history of bankruptcy can show up on an employment credit check in Florida.

However, the nature of credit checks can vary from state to state. What do Florida employment credit checks include, and what can they reveal about potential employees? How do Florida’s employment credit checks differ from other st
The Sandspur •

Student mental health declines amid pandemic, CAPS adapts services

As student mental health increases in vulnerability this semester, the Wellness Center has implemented a new online request option and updated its treatment plans in the wake of the pandemic. Most appointments are now conducted through telehealth.

What does Rollins data look like?

Current CAPS data, while early, reveals increases in reports of anxiety and depression. Right now, 63 percent of CAPS students indicated experiencing anxiety, and 33 percent indicated experiencing depression.

These
The Sandspur •

Number of students using CAPS surges

The number of students utilizing Counseling and Psychology Services (CAPS) at Rollins has steadily increased since 2013 and has increased by more than 50 percent since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to Director of Wellness Dr. Connie Briscoe and Director of Health Promotions Cristelle Garnier, approximately 520 students have utilized CAPS services since August 2021. For comparison, about 340 students used CAPS services from August to February last year, and about 380 students used CAP
The Sandspur •

Letter from the Editor: "The Sandspur wins gold medal"

When we submitted The Sandspur’s content to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) in October, we did not know what to expect.

Managing Editor Trinideé Mercado and I began our tenure with a dwindling staff and the nerve-wracking reality that we had to shift our platform online. Over the summer, we interviewed several students, all of whom were strangers to us, to fill empty writer and editor positions. We were hopeful and nervous to hire new staff members who were committed to increas
The Sandspur •

Rollins alumni win $50K in startup competition

Rollins alumni William Glass (‘14) and Andrew Holliday (‘13) took home $50,000 after Ostrich, their financial fitness app, won the Crummer Venture Plan competition earlier this March.

Glass and Holliday first met during the Rollins’ Men’s Soccer pre-season in August 2010 and have been close friends since. Glass had the idea for Ostrich in 2017, and together they pursued the startup at the beginning of the pandemic.

“We were a little bit in shock when [we heard we won],” Glass said. “The compet
The Sandspur •

New cybersecurity deadline encourages faculty, students to protect accounts

As part of the IT department’s campaign to keep online accounts safe, students and faculty are required to sign up for multi-factor authentication (MFA) by Nov. 18. MFA enhances an account’s security by confirming an individual’s identity through another factor, such as texts or calls.

Faaress Parham, IT security architect, said that a total of 46 accounts have been compromised since mid-September.

“They are almost at one a day,” Faaress said. “It does come in waves. Sometimes there will be a
The Sandspur •

Lakeside build moves forward

At least part of the Lakeside Residential Complex is projected to open early August 2020 as construction and design advance into their next stages. The apartment complex will provide an assortment of amenities that focus on student wellbeing and community.

Due to the demolition of McKean Hall last year, available on-campus rooms decreased, and many students, primarily first-years, moved into double-rooms, which became forced triples.

Those students are promised first priority when it comes to